Jamie At Home: Episode 8, Winter Veg

Today we learn that when you’re cool like Jamie Oliver, you don’t have to spell out the word “vegetable.” That’s why he’s making recipes with winter “veg.”

Jamie has a big bowl of vegetables, and you can tell it’s cold because he’s wearing both sweats with a hoodie and a really thick jacket. But then again, that could be summer in London. He says he’s going to make a really zingy coleslaw. Yum.

Winter Veg Coleslaw

Instead of a classic, boring coleslaw, Jamie’s going to make his own with a twist. Instead of onion, he’s using shallots. But he still uses the traditional base of cabbage, both green and red (well, more purple-red).

He gets his food processor and starts slicing away. The big lesson of the day: “The softer you push, the finer it’ll be. The harder you push, the thicker it’ll be.” Gotcha, Jamie. After slicing up the red, he slices up the regular cabbage, and then two shallots. Then a whole fennel bulb. Then he flips his blade to grating, and starts grating away at a variety of veg that will make his coleslaw unique: beet roots (he’s using a raw yellow beet because the red ones will stain too much), turnip, carrots (including heirloom-colored ones), and a bunch of radishes. Wow, it’s like a rainbow with the really bright colors. He also has it in this really big bowl.

Jamie uses organic yogurt instead of mayonnaise as the base for his dressing for the coleslaw. I personally don’t have anything against mayonnaise, but I can see how yogurt would be healthier. Still, I rather stick with mayonnaise. I tried to make a dressing once with yogurt and the tartness just wasn’t the same. Anywho, Jamie seasons the yogurt with salt and pepper and then adds some herbs: fennel fronds, mint, chervils, all chopped into fine pieces. He adds a squeeze of lemon (about one-and-a-half lemon), about 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and a big spoonful of mustard. He tosses it all up with his fingers. Again, that’s a big bowl of slaw.

He gets a leftover piece of meat and slices up a few pieces and spoons the coleslaw on top, garnishing with more herbs.

Italian Cabbage Soup

Jamie is cooking outside and brings out a pot of cooked savoy cabbage and green curly kale. He boiled them in chicken stock for about five minutes. He gets some stale bread and rubs them with garlic after toasting them. Then he gets a tray from the oven, and opens a tin of anchovy fillets. He pours the oil from the anchovies on the bottom of the pan, then covers the tray with pancetta. That’s a lot of pancetta. He gets back his anchovy fillets, oops, he almost hurt himself getting them out of the can. How many times has that happened to me? He puts the anchovies with the pancetta and places the tray into the oven to render the fat out of the pancetta.

BTW, doesn’t Jamie look like he’s dressed to go moose hunting? Or maybe duck hunting with Dick Cheney. Odd imagery, I know. He goes to the wood oven to get his crispy pancetta and he throws in his greens, blending everything together. He gets a casserole pan, and covers the bottom of the pan with the slices of toasts. Then he throws in the vegetables and sprinkles grated cheese (fontina and parmesan) and drizzles with olive oil. He covers the top with more toast slices. Then another layer of vegetables and cheese. He says it’s like making lasagna, but it’s not. He finishes the layering with a top layer of bread that hasn’t been toasted.

Jamie tastes his stock and does that odd gorilla dance with his swinging arms. You know what I’m talking about? He pours the stock into the pan over all the bread and vegetables, and grates more cheese on the top and then more olive oil, seasoning everything with pepper and he pushes everything down with his hands. This will cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven.

With the magic of television, a second later he brings out the pot and he says it’s like a cross between bread pudding and French onion soup. OK, I’ll take your word for it. He says a classic thing to go with it is sage butter. So he uses a sauté pan and melts butter and sage together, crisping up the sage leaves.

Jamie says this is not going to be a creamy or brothy soup. “Don’t go there,” he warns. He reminds everyone that this is a bread soup. Not having had bread soup, it’s tough for me to imagine. But he “cuts” up his soup and gets a clump of it in a bowl and ladles in some of the soup, then garnishes with his sage butter. Is this really how Italians make their soup? He tastes it and loves it. (Complete recipe here.)

The Best Bubble and Squeak

OK, who out there knows whether the Brits really have a classic dish called Bubble and Squeak? Funny name. Anywho, Jamie says it’s getting cold outside so he’s going to make this comfort dish. (Actually Jamie, it’s getting a bit warmer here in the Bay Area.) He has a pot of vegetables that he’s boiled: carrots, turnips, parsnips, Brussel sprouts, potatoes, and savoy cabbage (again). He cooked them for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through and then drains them in a colander. (Complete recipe here.)

In a pan, he gets some olive oil and butter warming, and then puts some chestnuts he got from a vac pack. (I actually still have a pack from Christmas when I made my butternut squash and chestnut soup, so maybe I should try it n this recipe?).Then he adds his drained vegetables and breaks them up. He uses a potato masher to do this, and creates a mix of color.

He gets a long string of pork sausages. Then he gets some beef sausages. He unravels the twists so that they’re no longer individual sausages. It looks like he’s trying to make one giant sausage. Jamie flattens out the sausages and puts the pork next to the beef and then lathers them with olive oil and starts massaging his sausage. (Don’t even go there.) He seasons with salt and pepper and fresh rosemary and nutmeg (a classic old English spice, he says). Then he grabs the two giant sausages and rolls them up like some sausage cinnamon roll. Then he skewers right through the center to keep it in a wheel.

He slices three red onions, which he’s going to use to make gravy. Jamie gets a roasting tray and pours some olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan and adds the onions. He seasons the onions with salt and pepper and a nub of butter and then he places the sausage wheel on top of the onions. He adds bay leaves in between the sausages and puts the tray into the oven to roast.

Jamie goes back to his pan and turns over the mashed vegetables and he says you do this continuously for awhile. Wow, this is a time-consuming recipe to make.

After awhile, the vegetable mash gets golden brown. He says if you listen to it, “I think you’ll hear it’s bubbling and squeaking.” Oh, that’s where the name comes from. Those British and their odd dishes! He brings out his caramelized onions and cooked sausages. He pulls the whole thing out onto a board and plates up the “bubble” into a plate. He puts the tray of onions into the stovetop and makes the gravy, adding flour, balsamic vinegar and chicken stock.

Jamie gets some fresh watercress and dresses it in olive oil with a squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper. He adds a bunch on top of his bubble and pours the gravy into a bowl. Then he cuts some of his sausages and places them on a plate on top of his bubble and squeak. Then he pours the gravy on top. It really looks like a bunch of mashed food. Squeeeeak! I just wanted to say that. Next week, bubble.

Jamieisms heard in this episode:

Happy days

Nub, as in “nub of butter.”

Mucking about

Jamie At Home airs on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. on the Food Network. Visit Jamie’s Web site at www.jamieoliver.com. More on the accompanying book for the series here.